Heart Of Flame
by Johnwolf234
Summary: A story following a young trainer that after a near disaster, finds himself a Pokemon. For the moment, all he's worried about is surviving and not getting caught, but dark things are on the horizon... Takes place in my own interpretation of the Pokemon world, a bit more realistic but with some game elements kept in if there is a lore worthy explanation for them. Most are OC's.
1. Chapter 1

**Heart of Flame**

 _ **So, this is what I've been working on for a while. It's not my first story, but it is the first one in the Pokémon archive, so please let me know what you all think, reviews are very welcome – including constructive criticism.**_

In a small village in the north of the region of Kanto, two teenagers were frantically packing up supplies and their equipment for a Pokémon journey. Both had been looking forward to this for years, and now they could finally leave on their journey they were both incredibly excited.

These two were Max and Daniel, two brothers that had grown up in this remote area of Kanto.

"Come on, we've got to go!" Daniel said, as he packed some spare clothes into his backpack.

"Calm down Daniel, not like we're finding a starter." Max said, rolling his eyes as the slightly younger brother packed things up frantically. "Jenna's already agreed to help us out."

"Arcanine Ar!" The Arcanine in question shouted, running around in excitement, "Though she does seem pretty excited too..."

"True..." Daniel sighed, "You're right, I forgot about that. We will have to catch some new Pokémon too though, can't exactly have her swap between us all the time."

"Yea, it wouldn't be fair for her..." Max agreed, "We have to be sure they don't mind, though..."

It was true. Growing up with Jenna had shown them both how smart Pokémon were, as well as how they could understand humans. Taking one from their parents book, they had resolved not to capture a Pokémon that didn't want to be - even now, the only reason Jenna had a Pokeball was in case she got injured on the journey.

"Yeah, we will." Daniel smiled a bit, "Hopefully that won't be too difficult, though."

Max nodded in agreement, scratching Jenna's ears a little.

"Well, that's everything then!" Daniel smiled, "Let's go!" he said, opening the door.

"Yeah, let's." Max agreed, following him out with Jenna trotting at his heels.

He petted her gently as they walked, using his other hand to check his recently acquired Pokedex. They lived too far away from the region's professor for it to be feasible for them to get them directly from him, so instead they received them via post (and a short lecture from their school about how to avoid dangers on a journey – effectively, try not to get any Pokémon too mad at you).

So far, of course, it was empty apart from Jenna herself, and he'd had to scan her as 'wild' since it wasn't really designed to share like they were doing.

They were walking along a trail looking for Pokémon when another trainer ran up to them, a girl that looked to be around thirteen.

"Hey, are you two trainers?" She asked.

"Yeah, just started out." Max confirmed, nodding.

"Well, whose is the Arcanine?"

Max and Daniel glanced at each other, and Daniel gestured slightly for Max to have his turn.

"She's mine." Max said, rubbing her head, "Her name's Jenna."

"Well, then I challenge you to a battle!" the trainer said.

"I accept." Max said, Jenna taking up her position.

"Good... Blastoise needed some experience." The trainer said with a smirk, throwing a Pokeball that revealed the large water type.

Jenna looked up at the Blastoise and gave a little whimper.

"A Blastoise!? Hey, we just started, that's not fair!" Max yelled, "All this will do is hurt her!"

"Oh, get over it kid. You can just take it to the Pokémon centre once I'm done. Blastoise, Hydro Pump!"

"Jenna, dodge quickly!" Max said quickly, but not quite fast enough – she was caught full on by the Hydro Pump and went flying back with a pained yelp, before hitting the ground and tumbling to a stop, whining weakly.

"Jenna!" Max yelled, running over to her and crouching down next to her, lifting her head up gently, "Jenna I'm so sorry..." he said apologetically, hugging her. "I shouldn't have just thrown you in like that without checking..."

Jenna nuzzled him weakly, "Arc..."

"Hey, save the sappiness kid, where's my money?" The trainer yelled impatiently.

Max got up and rounded on her, clenching his fists, "That wasn't a fight. That was you picking on a Fire Type that isn't even used to fighting yet and putting her in pain. You know what, take it. I can't be bothered to speak to you when I could be helping her. You're not worth it." He threw the standard low level winning fee at her and walked back to Jenna, ignoring the trainer's protests.

"Sorry Jenna, looks like you'll have to go into your Pokeball..." He said, rubbing her head a little.

Jenna whined a little more and hung her head.

"Hey, don't be like that girl." He smiled a little, "You did your best, I can't ask for anything more than that. I'll let you out as soon as you get healed, OK?"

She nodded slightly in agreement to that, and tapped her nose to her Pokeball, returning herself.

Max stood up, a bit of anger still lingering.

"That was a disaster..." Daniel sighed, "And I know what you're thinking. You can't solve things with violence."

"Sure, but it's OK when Pokémon get beat up, huh?" Max said bitterly.

"You know that's not what I meant. What she did was wrong, but you can't solve it by hitting things." Daniel said with a sigh. "Let's go get her healed..."

"Yeah, OK." Max said, "I guess you're right." He started walking back to the town and the Pokémon centre in particular.

It only took a few minutes for them to get back to the Pokémon centre, a large, white building with a placard of a Pokeball on the front, and a large number of windows lininh its sides to let the light in.

Max and Daniel stepped into the reception area of the Pokémon center, and Max immediately gave the Nurse Joy Jenna's Pokeball as he walked in. "Please take care of her..." He said softly as he handed the Pokeball over the counter.

"Don't worry, she'll be just fine!" The nurse Joy said comfortingly, taking the Pokeball into the back room while Max and Daniel sat down to wait.

"I hope she's OK..." Max said softly.

Daniel smiled a bit, knowing that Max had always been close to the Arcanine. He was pretty sure his brother even understood some of what she said...

"You heard her, Max. Jenna will be fine, the people here know what they're doing."

"I guess..." Max said, only to be cut off by the sound of the building's Fire alarm.

"What the!?" He yelled, getting up.

"Someone set fire to the recovery room!" The Nurse Joy said, running in. She had a rare look of anger on her face at the thought of someone harming the Pokémon kept there, "We managed to get all the Pokémon out, but we have to go!"

Max and Daniel got up and went for the door, but Max stopped in his tracks as he thought of something.

"What about Jenna!?"

"She's on the other side of the fire. I'm sorry, but we'll just have to hope she can last until the fire crews get here." Nurse Joy said, sounding truly ashamed.

Max froze. "No!" He ran back inside, ignoring the smoke now seeping through the building. If it was this bad already, she wouldn't have a chance – Fire types were resistant to fire, not immune to it, and the smoke would get her just as easily. Whether he was exchanging his life for hers he didn't care - he was getting her out.

"Max, stop!" Daniel said, starting after him only to be held back.

"Any more will only slow him down and put more at risk. We have to believe he'll be OK." Nurse Joy said, walking out.

"There must be something we can do!" Daniel protested as they watched as the Pokémon centre was engulfed in flames.

"I'm afraid not..."

 **Meanwhile, back with Max...**

Max forced open another door, holding a handkerchief over his nose and mouth in an attempt to block out the worst of the smoke. Finally he was almost there, but there were roaring flames running through the corridor he was in. The Sprinklers were on already, but they weren't able to do much more than slow the fire down.

 _'Too late to turn back now...'_ He thought, running through the gauntlet. He threw off his jacket as the ends of it caught fire, the rest of his clothing smouldering but refusing to light - trainer clothes were treated to be fire retardant as standard, given the fact that new trainers in particular were likely to annoy their Pokémon.

He could feel the heat starting to burn his skin, but he kept going, through a mixture of determination and adrenaline.

Finally he found Jenna's Pokeball among others on a tray in a back room. He grabbed the whole thing and started looking for an exit, coughing slightly as the smoke grew thicker.

Finally he got back to the door, but part of the building had collapsed, forming a pile of burning rubble that he couldn't climb over. However... There was a gap large enough to throw a Pokeball through.

He started throwing the Pokeballs through the gap and outside, hearing them release their contents as he did, ignoring the growing ache and burning in his arms. Finally only Jenna's was left.

"Goodbye, Jenna..." Max said softly, throwing that Pokeball through too. His self appointed duty satisfied, his determination faded as the smoke overwhelmed him, collapsing back into the building.

He smiled weakly, happy that he had been able to save them, even in exchange for his own life, and closed his eyes, allowing the smoke to claim him.

Outside the building, Daniel watched as Pokeballs were thrown out of a gap in the rubble where the door once was, automatically releasing their contents. One in particular released a certain female Arcanine, who looked back at the burning Pokémon centre in confusion before running over to Daniel. He watched silently for several minutes, until the burning building collapsed, and there was still no sign of Max.

He was dead. He'd died!

Daniel closed his eyes as he remembered everything he could about his brother. He'd always been kind to his friends, whether human or Pokémon. He'd give his life for any of them... Scratch that, he HAD given his life for her. If she hadn't been so damn weak, he wouldn't have had to save her, and he'd still be alive!

Daniel clenched his fists angrily and glared at her, Jenna looking up at him with a whimper, "Arr?"

"He's dead. My brother died to save you. You god-damned beast." he said, rage consuming him.

"Arcanine!?" She asked, backing away nervously, "Arc..." _'What... Daniel, why are you...'_ She yelped as she was returned to her Pokeball again, this time against her will.

 **...**

Arceus watched the mortal realm sadly. Every death was a sad event, but this young trainer had a bright life ahead of him, and was one of those that truly respected Pokémon. It was a shame to lose such a spirit so soon.

However, that need not be the case...

 _'Yes, this one deserves a second chance of life...'_ Arceus decided, plucking the spirit back before it faded into Yveltal's realm. The dragon of death would not be happy about the interference, but then, Yveltal was rarely happy about anything, such came from his duty of watching over the souls of those deceased.

"Now, what Pokémon would suit you..." Arceus mused, before remembering his actions earlier and his bond with his Arcanine. "Ferocious loyalty, and willing to fight in order to prove it... Yes, the Arcanine form will suit you well."

So decided, Arceus created a new body for the spirit. It was about as weak as he could make it, but as with anything created by him directly, was rather more powerful that would be normal. Unable to do much about this, Arceus sealed the full extent of that power to show only in times of need, and placed the spirit into the body, giving it the spark of life.

 _'I had been wondering who to choose as the next chosen one. Perhaps this will do.'_ Arceus decided, watching.

 **...**

Max opened his eyes drowsily.

"Ohh... I... What happened?" He said to himself.

 _'The last thing I remember is falling unconscious in the fire... So shouldn't I be in the hospital?'_ He thought, _'why can I hear birds then?'_

He forced his eyes open, seeing dry brown leaves covering the floor around him.

He looked up and saw a few more falling from the trees above him. "Ugh... Why the heck am I in a forest?" He wondered, seeing something down between his eyes. Whatever it was, it had a black tip...

Putting the matter aside for the moment, Max attempted to stand up, only to fall flat on his face the instant he did. _'Oww... Why can't I stand up?'_ He wondered, looking down at his paws.

"... Paws!?" He yelped in surprise, staring at them. "No... No! I'm not a Pokémon... I'm not..."

The paws responded to his every movement, and he now recognised the foreign object at the bottom of his vision as his muzzle. He sighed resignedly. It wasn't entirely unheard of for humans to become Pokémon... It _was_ unheard of that any changed against their will had turned back.

Max whimpered slightly at that. The fact that he was out in the forest meant that if Daniel had seen him, he thought Max was a just a regular Pokémon.

He curled up on himself, crying in despair. "No... Why..." He sniffed, "Why did this happen to me!?"

He lay there wallowing in self-pity, until a low rumble from his belly forced him to focus back on the present.

Max sighed and got up onto all fours, knowing he had to find some food soon. "I really hope I won't have to hunt something..." He sighed, starting to look around the autumn forest.

After a few minutes he found an Oran berry bush that still had some berries to offer, and shrugged slightly to himself with a smile and picked a few of the berries off it. They were not particularly filling, but they were better than nothing. Most trainers used them only for their healing properties since having enough to live on would be rather expensive, but given there was a bush of them right in front of him, Max didn't feel like he was wasting them or anything.

Max ate the berries a little awkwardly, trying to get used to eating with a muzzle – and failing miserably, rather glad that no one was around to see him, as he was making a rather large mess of berries and juice.

The berries actually tasted really nice, however, and though he was uninjured, their properties still made him feel a bit better.

Max allowed himself a slight smile as he downed the last of the berries. It had certainly took the edge off of his hunger, at least.

"Ah, this isn't so bad I guess..." Max murmured, "Nice views, fresh air... As long as I don't get captured, I think I'll be fine." He smiled a little, though shivered at that last thought. He knew that Jenna really didn't like her Pokeball, and with only that to go on, he wasn't looking forward to finding out for himself.

"I... I have to try and find Daniel and Jenna." He decided, "Hopefully they'll believe me, but where... Ahah!"

All trainers had to visit Pokémon centres every now and then! If he watched people coming and going from one for long enough, eventually, his brother would pass through!

Admittedly, it would also increase the chances of him being captured, but that was a risk he was willing to take in order to get a chance of finding Daniel.

So decided, Max started walking again, finding a route through the forest and following it, though careful not to actually walk across the trail itself, instead walking through the trees and shrubbery on either side, which would hopefully hide him from passing trainers...

"Oh, cool! An Arcanine, I've always wanted one of you!" He heard a young voice shout from behind him. Or, maybe his bright orange fur would give him away. Of course.

Max span around to face the trainer, a young girl, looking about twelve. Old enough to be a threat if she started out at the lowest possible age of ten.

Especially because he still had no idea how to fight.

Nevertheless, he drew himself to his full height and narrowed his eyes as he watched her pick out a Pokeball. He certainly wasn't getting caught without a fight, and while he would usually have run, something, a deep instinct of his new body, stopped him. This trainer had challenged him to a fight, and he would give her one.

"Go, Pidgeotto!" She said, releasing the normal-flying type.

Pidgeotto flapped and hovered in the air next to her, then did a double – take.

"Let's agree not to hurt each other too badly." Pidgeotto suggested diplomatically, instinctively sensing the differential between their strengths as all Pokémon could and really wishing his trainer had checked her Pokedex first for once.

Max knew Pokémon often seemed to talk with each other before a fight, and given his observations from Jenna and the fact he was now one himself, he wasn't really surprised by the other Pokémon speaking.

"Agreed." Max replied, "Actually, this is my first battle against a flying type." He half lied. It was his first battle full stop.

"Oh, really?" Pidgeotto smiled slightly, "Well, then I'll have to make a good showing, won't I?"

Max smiled back and nodded, then shifted to a fighting stance, baring his teeth and raising his tail slightly. _'If worst comes to worst, biting isn't exactly hard...'_ He decided.

Taking that as the Arcanine accepting the fight, the trainer gave her first command.

"Pidgeotto, use Gust!"

The Pidgeotto obeyed and used his wings to create a powerful gust of wind towards the Arcanine.

Max braced himself as he felt it wash over him, wincing. It wasn't too powerful an attack, but somehow the Pidgeotto had made it _sting_.

Max ran and jumped in an attempt to Bite the normal-flying type, only for him to fly slightly higher, which resulted in him dropping back to the ground with nothing to show for it.

 _'Argh... I need a ranged attack...'_ He thought, turning back to face the Pidgeotto and closing his eyes, _'This was one of the first moves Jenna learned... Shouldn't be too hard.'_ He thought, concentrating on his power. _'Come on, how do I do this..?'_ He thought as he attempted to draw some away for an attack.

"Quick Attack, Pidgeotto!"

The call from the trainer snapped him out of it and he leapt to the side quickly to dodge. As he did, he instinctively formed an Ember attack and blazed away with hundreds of little Embers. Many missed, but enough hit to have a visible effect on Pidgeotto, who wobbled it the air slightly before returning back to his starting point.

 _'How did I do that!?'_ Max thought with wide eyes.

Then he realized something. He'd only managed it when he stopped thinking about the attack and just thought of what he wanted to happen.

 _'My moves are instinctive. I just have to decide which one I want to use and it happens!'_

"Pidgeotto, Tackle!"

Max stood his ground this time, waiting until he was close... Almost there... Now!

"FLAMETHROWER!" He yelled, opening his maw and allowing a torrent of flame to fly out. Pidgeotto shrieked in pain and Max cut the Flamethrower off short, remembering his promise not to hurt the lower level Pokémon too badly.

Rather singed, Pidgeotto managed a shaky landing rather than a crash before collapsing.

Max walked over to him, "Sorry about that. I may have gotten a little carried away..."

Pidgeotto pulled himself up and dusted his burned feathers off, "No, it's perfectly understandable. I did notice you cut it off, too, so thank you."

"You're welcome." Max replied, smiling slightly, "Better luck next time."

"Thanks." Pidgeotto said with a nod before being returned.

Max nodded with a smile before turning to leave, but he was stopped by a slight sigh from behind him.

He turned to look at the trainer, who was looking rather disappointed.

"Guess you didn't want to come with me, huh Arcanine?"

Max shook his head slightly.

"Oh well... Will you let me scan you, at least?"

He thought it over a little, before nodding and sitting down facing her. He got at least as much out of it as she did, considering they usually stated what moves a scanned Pokémon knew.

"Great!" She smiled and got out her Pokedex, pointing it to him and pressing the scan button.

Max sat patiently, waiting for the Pokedex to finish. After a few seconds it made a slight 'ding' sound and started speaking.

 **"Arcanine, the Fire Type Pokémon.** **A Pokémon that has long been admired for its beauty. It runs agilely as if on wings. Its magnificent bark conveys a sense of majesty. Anyone hearing it can't help but grovel before it. Arcanine is known for its high speed. It is said to be capable of running over 6,200 miles in a single day and night. This Arcanine is male and knows all moves of its pre-evolution Growlithe and is level 51. It also knows the TM moves Flame Charge and Overheat."**

Max tilted his head slightly at that, _'I know TM moves? Cool!'_

"Wow, you're pretty strong! Released from a trainer at some point?"

Max gave a noncommittal shrug. It was the most likely explanation for a wild Pokémon to know TM moves, so if she wanted to believe it then she could.

"Well then, no wonder you did well..."

Max quietly slipped away while she thought, his heart hammering as his mind caught up with what had just happened.

Someone had already attempted to capture him, and he was just lucky she seemed quite low level.

Granted, it seemed his new body was powerful, but he had no idea how to use it properly, he'd only just worked out how to attack in fact!

He didn't want to risk going into another battle with a trainer until he was ready, so he walked off further into the forest until he found a clearing.

"This'll do..." He nodded to himself, then tried a small version of a Flamethrower, letting a little gout of flame out of his mouth. "Ahaha, I can breathe fire!"

Now that he wasn't using it in battle, he had a chance to actually think about how it felt. Despite him being sure that these flames would badly burn him if he were human, he felt no pain or discomfort whatsoever as he blew them out of his mouth. The intense heat was still there, but it actually felt strangely comforting to him, warming his body from the inside.

He closed his mouth and tried a few of his regular moves, which took a few more tries to get right but he eventually managed to get Extreme Speed working, zipping from one end of the clearing to the other.

"Hmm... I wonder..." When he used Extreme speed, the attack got most of its power from the sheer speed he was a travelling at. What if he used another attack to fill in for that, and make it more powerful?

 _'Hmm... Fire Fang, maybe?'_ He thought, smirking slightly as he felt one of his fangs become wreathed in flame from the thought. _'Yes, Fire Fang could work.'_

When he tried however, he found it was extremely difficult to keep both attacks going at the same time: most of the time, either he'd slow down halfway with Fire Fang still active, or he'd end up with just a regular Extreme Speed.

It was also very, very tiring, Fire Fang drawing on his power while Extreme Speed rapidly wore out his body.

Max panted heavily as he ended another Extreme Speed. "Oh, wow... Gotta rest..." He tottered out of the clearing, still panting, and lay down under a bush to rest.

 _'Just a... Little nap...'_ He thought.

Within seconds, the tired Arcanine was out cold, curled up with his head resting in his thick tail fur.

 _ **So, that's the first chapter over and done with! As I said, I'm open to criticism, and to be honest I don't really like the bit with Arceus, but it was the only way I could think of to justify it at the time. If you guys have better ideas then I'm happy to listen.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**So that you guys all know, as I uploaded this chapter I've also added some small bits to Chapter one. Not a rewrite or anything, but hopefully it will help address some criticisms of it. And yes, there will be more back story later too. Thank you very much for that, by the way. Anyway, without further ado here's Chapter two, hope you all enjoy!**_

 **Heart Of Flame**

 **Chapter 2**

Max awoke again under the bush he had taken shelter in the night before, yawning and stretching out as he looked around. Over the night, the ground had grown even more covered in browned leaves from trees, as well as the occasional more interesting gold and red colours.

He smiled a bit as he looked over it all, "Ah, Autumn... I always did think this was the most beautiful time of year... Of course, snow is pretty too..." He mused, taking a deep breath and letting it out before walking out back to the clearing he'd practised in the night before. He was fairly sure he could handle most of his moves now, but he wanted to make sure he could use his TM moves, as well as Thunder Fang in case he ran into a water type.

Flame Charge he managed easily enough, as it was simply using his natural element to boost his speed a bit, in addition to burning the opponent on contact. Overheat he didn't want to try yet, as for one it had a reputation of exhausting any Pokémon that used it almost as much as Hyper Beam did, and for another he'd be likely to cause a forest fire, despite the leaves and trees being damp at the moment.

Instead he started trying to focus on bringing up Thunder Fang. Technically it was one of the first moves all Arcanine knew - an adaptation to help them defend themselves against water types in the wild - but for Max, who had still only just learnt how to draw on his body's natural element, trying to use another seemed to be an exercise in futility. While his body naturally channelled and was comfortable with fire, electricity was another story, and the most he managed was giving himself a rather nasty static shock that caused his thicker tufts of fur to stand on end. _'Ok, so Thunder Fang I still need to work on… Guess it was too much to ask that every one would be as easy…'_ he thought as he let himself relax on a bed of leaves. Or at least, he tried to, until he felt a drop of rain fall on his coat. He looked up to see dark clouds overhead, wincing as a bolt of lightning stuck somewhere a few hundred meters away. _'Ah, crap…This is not good at all…'_ He thought as he felt the rain start to fall more heavily. It wasn't directly hurting him, but he'd grown used to the comfortable heat that his body naturally produced, which his now soaked fur was drawing away, as well as the fact that the water actually stung slightly.

Soon feeling absolutely miserable, Max knew he had to find some shelter soon. With it being a thunderstorm and him having no den to return to, that only left whatever town was at the end of the route he had found yesterday.

He whimpered as he forced himself to start walking. There was now a heavy rainstorm overhead, the area around him already soaked and muddy, the Autumn leaves actually hiding some patches.

It went against every instinct in his body to walk out into it, but he knew that staying where he was wasn't any better really. He needed proper shelter.

He stepped out, wincing again as the rain pelted down on his fur, and started running towards the town he saw on the horizon as fast as he could.

His new body allowed him to race over the ground at a speed he'd never thought himself capable of before, but on the way he slipped in several patches of mud, which only worsened his condition, as well as making him look and feel absolutely miserable, and his pace suffered for it, slowing to a slow trot and then an exhausted walk as he finally reached the town, which as he looked around turned out to be Vermillion.

Max noticed a few people looking at him as he walked in, but ignored them, instead making a beeline for the towns Pokémon center. They'd help him, they had to!

It took him a while, but finally he got to the town's Pokemon center, the familiar design greeting him, though this one had yellow highlights to signify the Gym type of the town.

Max panted heavily as he collapsed at the door, finally under some shelter thanks to the stone ledge that jutted out over it. It didn't take long for one of the Nurses inside the Pokémon center to notice to notice the wet and mud-covered Arcanine at their door.

Max glanced upwards he he heard the door opening, one of the Nurse Joys bending down to him with a kind smile.

"Hello, Arcanine. Come on in, you can't be very comfortable out here." She beckoned him inside.

Max gave a weak nod in agreement and got up again, staggering inside as Nurse Joy closed the door behind him. Luckily, Pokémon centers didn't only help trainers Pokémon, they were quite happy to aid any wild Pokémon that needed it, too.

Presently, Nurse Joy rubbed his head soothingly, which, Max decided, felt really nice.

"Got caught out in the rain, huh?" She asked, to which Max nodded slightly.

"Well, with the rain it's rather quiet for us at the moment, so let's go and get you cleaned up and dried off a bit, hmm?"

Max nodded again agreeably. The mud in his fur felt really uncomfortable for him, with it caking his fur together as well as the water cooling him.

"Alright then. I will have to use water, but I'll make sure it's hot water, OK?" She asked, walking into the care area behind the reception area that most trainers waited in.

Max followed closely and gave a hesitant nod to her. He wasn't quite sure about water as a whole right now, but he figured Nurse Joy knew what she was doing.

She seemed to notice that and smiled, "Don't worry, you're not the first Fire Type I've treated. Your evolution tree is actually one of the Fire types quite able to cope with water, since you don't have a permanent flame like the Charmander tree." She said as she led him into a small wash room, with a decent sized bath mounted at one of the walls.

Max had to admit that one was true. The rain was uncomfortable and made him feel weak, but it wasn't actually directly harming him like it would a Charmander and the like.

"Anyway, hop in and let's get that mud off you." She said, stopping at the bath with a shower on the side.

Max sighed and jumped in reluctantly.

"Oh, don't worry. Look, it's nice and warm." Nurse Joy said, turning the shower on and pointing it at a corner of the bath first. It was very warm indeed, enough that steam was starting to rise from it. _'Probably about as high as possible without it scalding her... Well, alright.'_ Max thought, nodding slightly to tell her to continue.

"Alright then. Just a quick rinse off for now." She said, turning it on him.

The warmer water was indeed much more comfortable than the rain had been, and she stuck to the promise of just rinsing the dirt out of his fur, which felt even better.

After a few minutes she turned it off and stepped back a bit, obviously expecting him to shake himself off.

Max quite happily obliged, shaking his fur out vigorously to get out the worst of the water.

"OK, now jump out and I'll dry you off properly." She said, smiling a bit. He didn't even notice it himself, but the Arcanine was already better than when he'd come in: the warmth had done him a lot of good.

Max jumped back out and sat patiently, smiling a little and wagging his tail as she used a hair dryer to dry his fur further, as well as to help keep him warm.

It didn't take too long, and by the time it was done Max felt much, much better than he had before, and wagged his tail a little to show it.

"Thanks!" He smiled as he did, though he knew she'd just hear Pokémon speech. Still, it always helped to be polite.

"You're welcome, Arcanine." Nurse Joy smiled, taking an educated guess, "I'm just glad I could help you out. It's still raining outside, so you can rest in the recovery room we have for Fire types. Just don't disturb the other occupant, she's a Ninetales that got injured quite badly in a battle recently."

Max smiled and nodded in acceptance to that. Resting somewhere warm sounded good right now, while he was still trying to figure things out at least.

 _'If there are more people like her... Maybe being captured wouldn't be so bad...'_ he thought.

Nurse Joy led him over to said room, before seeming to think of something, "Oh! Are you hungry, Arcanine?"

Max nodded rapidly, _'Very...'_

"OK, I'll bring you some food in a minute." She said, "For now, just make yourself at home."

Max smiled and nodded, walking inside and instantly relaxing. The room was extremely warm, which meant it was very comfortable for Fire Types, and the walls were actually coloured red and texture's somewhat like a Volcano, which Max found to be strangely comforting.

As well as the ambient heat of the room, there were also Heat lamps that Pokémon could bask under, as it was common knowledge that while Fire types were perfectly capable of walking around in the cold, they much preferred being in warm places themselves.

He had little doubt that he'd be sweating like mad were he human, but instead the intense heat simply made him feel nicely warm and a bit sleepy as he curled up under a heat lamp.

He was about to drop off to sleep when he heard a nervous voice, "H-hello?"

Max looked over to the source of the voice and saw a beautiful Shiny Ninetales, or at least, he was sure she would have been if not for her injuries, which were even worse than what he'd come to expect. She didn't just have the scratches and minor burns he was used to seeing Pokémon sporting, she looked genuinely beat up despite having obviously been cleaned up and treated, most noticeably a bandage on her left foreleg, which she wasn't putting any weight on. "Who are you?" She asked nervously.

"I'm Max. I'm a Wild Arcanine, came in here because I was outside when it started raining. Nurse Joy was kind enough to let me in."

"Yes, she is very kind, isn't she?" The Ninetales smiled a little, "It's been a while since I had a chance to speak to a wild Pokémon. Even if your name is a bit strange..."

"I imagine so. Trainers always seem more interested in fighting us than talking to us... And, yeah, I know." Max said, remembering the trainer from earlier. She'd tried simply asking him to let her scan him only _after_ he'd beaten her in a battle.

"And more interested in trading than letting us go." She said sadly. "No profit in letting a Shiny go, huh?"

Max sighed internally. He'd always thought the trade system was flawed, especially when it came to Shiny's like this Ninetales. You weren't supposed to keep a Pokémon for more than a few years if they didn't want to stay, but Trading reset that counter, resulting in Pokémon that hadn't gotten to be wild for many years. The Pokémon that suffered most from this were the Shinies, given their rarity and therefore value. There was growing pressure to close that loophole from more progressive trainers, but as yet nothing had actually been done about it.

"I'm sorry for that. I can only imagine how it must feel..." He said sympathetically.

She gave a harsh laugh, "I've gotten used to it. Besides... All the friends I would have wanted to get back to will have died of old age by now... Two hundred years tends to do that to a Pokémon..."

"TT-two hundred years!?" Max spluttered, "That's awful!"

"Even for us Ninetales it is a long time..." she admitted, "But... I have the opportunity now to speak to you, and I'm going to take it. My name is Jade, pleased to meet you, Max."

"Likewise, Jade." Max smiled, "I'd be glad to."

"Thank you. The first thing I wanted to ask was about how trainers capture Pokémon now..."

And so the two of them talked to each other, each one of them doing their best to answer each other questions – Max did his best to update Jade on what had happened over the last two hundred years, while Jade told him about how it felt to be a captured Pokémon.

"In my experience, despite the trading most of them are rather kind, though I'm not quite sure how much of that is due to me being a Shiny and therefore valuable..." She sighs.

"Yeah, I suppose that could influence them... Hmm..."

"What is it?" She asks.

"I was thinking of what I might do if I meet a nice trainer. Might allow myself to be captured by them rather than get captured by someone worse down the line..." Max sighed. He'd decided that searching for his brother could wait for now, and that he needed to make sure he was in a safe position first. Some trainers did try to help their Pokémon with problems they had, if he was captured by one of those it could actually be beneficial to his search, as well as allowing him to find out more about how it felt to be a Pokémon.

"That may be a good idea, actually..." Jade said, "Getting captured on your own terms, and choosing who it is, would protect you from the really bad trainers at least, and you could pick who you do want. Just... One word of advice. If a trainer offers to let you go, stay with them, at least for a while. They're the ones that really care about you." She sounded like the was speaking from experience, though Max didn't want to pry too much, instead just nodding slightly.

"Thanks for the advice, I'll keep that in mind." He said, smiling a little. "What happened to you, though?"

"Oh, yes, the injuries..." She shivered slightly, "It seems the last trainer we fought was jealous that my trainer had me. He had his Pokémon fight to wound and kill, not incapacitate..."

"What!? And they agreed?" Max asked, aghast.

"I do not believe they had much of a choice." Jade replied with a shake of her head, "My trainer returned me when she realized what was happening, but by that time, all this had already happened."

"That's terrible..." Max sighed, "At least you're safe now, though."

"Yes, and Nurse Joy isn't going to let me out until I'm completely healed, so I've got a break from battling for a while." Jade said, "So really, it turned out for the best."

"I'll say." Max agreed with a smile.

At that moment, Nurse Joy opened the door to the room. "Come here, Arcanine! Food time!"

Jade giggled at that, "Go on then, she's calling you."

Max flushed in embarrassment, though it wasn't really noticeable through his fur.

She had a point though, and he _was_ hungry, so he walked over to Nurse Joy to see what it was she had decided to feed him.

Pokéfeed. Dried Pokéfeed, little brown pellets that supposedly held nutrition but couldn't be bothered to even look like actual food.

Max looked down at the bowl, vaguely disgusted. He'd never even tried to feed Jenna this crap – and it was near universally acknowledged even among trainers that it was crap, but cheap crap - instead usually meat scraps or at least some higher quality wet stuff, though she obviously preferred the former.

Still, he supposed it would be too much to ask that a wild Pokémon that just walked in be given proper food, and as he hadn't eaten since early the previous day, he didn't really have much of a choice in the matter.

 _'Ugh, this is humiliating...'_ He thought as he dipped his head in and started eating. He very nearly spat it out, but his still famished body only cared that it was food, and he couldn't bring himself to do so as he crunched down on some and swallowed, sighing to himself.

Despite himself, he was so hungry he polished off the entire bowl before long, looking back up at Nurse Joy and licking his chops, more in an attempt to get rid of the taste than anything else.

The Nurse Joy seemed to take it as a positive though, rubbing his head gently, "Much better, right Arcanine?"

Reminding himself that she was only trying to help him, Max nodded again.

 _'Better than starving at least...'_ He thought with a sigh, before giving a long yawn.

"Go on and take a nap then, Arcanine. Don't worry, you're safe here." Nurse Joy said, "We don't let anyone capture injured or recovering Pokémon, wild or not."

Max smiled a bit and nodded, going back under a heat lamp to rest.

Nurse Joy gave a satisfied nod at that before beckoning Jade to come over, checking the bandages on her leg and making sure she wasn't in pain.

Max smiled slightly as he watched, resting his head on his front paws as he slowly dropped off. _'Maybe being a Pokémon won't be so bad after all…'_ He decided, smiling.

 **\- A few hours later -**

"I'm so sorry this happened to you, Jade..." Max heard a female voice say as he woke up. He drew his head up and looked around, noticing that he was still in the comfortable warmth of the recovery room.

Smiling slightly, Max turned to where the voice was coming from and saw a young trainer gently stroking Jade's head, the Ninetales doing her best to continue to look miserable despite the nice feelings from being petted.

"Oh, hey Max." Jade smiled a bit when she saw he was awake

"Hi Jade." Max said, walking over a little, "She your Trainer, then?"

"Yes, she is." Jade nodded, "Now, I'm getting fussed over so..."

Max chuckled, "I understand."

The trainer was watching Max cautiously, eventually deciding that it didn't seem like he wanted to fight.

"Hi boy." She smiled a bit, "Are you and Jade getting along well, then?"

Max smiled and nodded to her, wagging his tail a bit.

"Good... I feel kinda bad for her, to be honest..." The trainer sighed, "Especially after this... I might just let her go somewhere after this."

Max nodded to that a bit, remembering how long Jade had spent as a captured Pokémon.

"You think that would be a good idea?" She asked. "Thing is, I'd need another Fire Type..."

Max gulped slightly. Warming up to the idea of being a Pokémon he may be, but he didn't want to be captured just yet.

"Oh, sorry, not you Arcanine. For one, Nurse Joy would kill me if I caught you here." She giggled a bit, "I was just thinking aloud."

"Okay, good." Max said, rather relieved.

"Of course, once you leave..."

Max nodded in agreement. Being a trainer himself previously, he wouldn't blame her for trying to keep her team strong.

"Well, I guess I should be-" The trainer was cut off by the sound of an explosion, one of the walls blowing in and showering the two Pokémon and the trainer with debris.

Max instinctively flared his power in response, turning in that direction just in time to take a lightly smouldering Cacnea to the face.

He yelped and shook his head rapidly to dislodge the spine Pokémon, whimpering from a few of the Cactus Pokémon's spines that had stuck on his nose.

The trainer coughed in the dust, "What the... Are you two OK?"

Jade nodded and blew a bit of flame to signal readiness to fight, whereas Max fired off a stationary Flame Charge that coated his body in flames, incinerating the cactus spines that had stuck to him. Combined with his fighting stance, that made the Arcanine look rather intimidating as flames licked around his body.

Before any of them could decide what else to do, three grunts dressed in black uniforms ran in.

"Haha, we hit the motherlode! Let's get that Shiny, boys!" Their leader said.

"Yeah, we'll be rich!" One of them said as they released their Pokémon, the sound of another fight already coming from the original location.

The grunts released one Pokémon each – A Mightyena, a Serviper and a Growlithe.

Max caught a glimpse of sadness in the eyes of the Mightyena and Growlithe, thanks to his experience with Canine Pokémon. 'Bastards, forcing Pokémon to fight like this...' He thought.

"Well, I'm not letting you!" The trainer said, standing up. "Arcanine, will you help?"

Max nodded slightly, then leapt forward and used Fire Fang on the Serviper, biting down hard on the snake and shaking it a bit to disorient it before bashing its head hard into the floor with a paw, knocking it out. Sure, it was an illegal move in the Pokémon fight regulations, but... These guys weren't exactly law abiding citizens.

He then tackled the center grunt directly, which knocked him out effortlessly, and used Extreme Speed to bounce between the two remaining grunts, which sent them flying into opposite walls.

Max then looked back to the Mightyena and Growlithe, "What? You didn't really think I'd fight two Pokémon who're obviously being forced to when I can just knock out their trainers, did you?"

"Err..." The Mightyena said, with slightly wide eyes. "I just realized that actually makes sense. Why don't the police ever do that?"

"Because the police are stupid, you don't save Pokémon from mistreatment by fighting them." Max said, rolling his eyes.

"W-what the... Why did you attack the humans?" The trainer asked.

Max turned to her and gestured to the Mightyena and Growlithe. "Because its better than fighting a mistreated puppy."

Jade waved her tails a bit and they glowed slightly, "He has a point, Sarah. They'll be fine, and we avoided having to fight all their Pokémon when said Pokémon don't really want to fight anyway."

"Uh... They don't?"

"We don't live to fight, Sarah. And few Pokémon enjoy helping criminals. Plus, as Max said, it's not nice to fight puppies."

"Wait, she can understand you?"

"Kind of. I can curse her to understand Pokémon every now and then." Jade said, sounding a little embarrassed.

"Ohhh... Well then, Sarah, don't worry. They'll be fine, they're just knocked out." Max said reassuringly.

"Well... Thanks, I guess. It does mean we're safe now..." Sarah said.

"Exactly. Now, I'm going to head off and see about the rest of this fight." Max said, Flame Charging back through the hole that the Cacnea had been blasted through.

Sarah and Jade looked at each other and shared a shrug, before walking over to the grunts and starting to help out their Pokémon.

Max jumped back through the hole, his Flame Charge still wreathing his body in flames.

The inside of the Pokémon center was devastated, with broken pieces of healing machine strewn across the floor and several other holes in the wall from attacks, but what was happening was even more worrying.

Bolts of lightning and fire, even leaves criss-crossed between two sides - one on the side of it what appeared to be the aggressors, who were picking up fallen Pokeballs in the confusion, and what seemed to be a single trainer, heavily outnumbered - but holding his own; the Pokémon the thieves were using appeared to be rather low level, many of them grass and electric types, along with some common Dark types like Mightyena. However, the trainer had only a Mightyena and a Jolteon still fighting, an Espeon laying fainted behind him with several cuts and burns on his body.

The Jolteon was at a severe disadvantage being surrounded by grass types, all of which were resistant to its more powerful moves, while Mightyena's – while well rounded, with few real weaknesses – were generally not the strongest in a fight, as they also had no real strengths and a fairly limited move pool, apart from their fairly strong bite attacks, so his Mightyena couldn't help much either, other than keeping her opposite number from attacking the Jolteon or trainer.

 _'They're not just here for Jade, they're trying to steal all the Pokémon in the center!'_

Deciding he couldn't let that happen, and knowing his earlier tactic wouldn't work with the stun batons he saw at these grunts waists, Max instead joined the fight by ramming an Umbreon out of the way with his Flame charge, sending the smaller Pokémon flying. Said Umbreon wisely decided not to get up again.

"Need some help?" He asked the Jolteon, using Flame Burst on a nearby Grotle, which also burned a Cacnea that was just a little too close.

"I'd appreciate it." The Jolteon said, dodging a Razor Leaf and tackling the Pokémon responsible. "You're wild though, why are you helping?"

"I'll tell you later, if your trainer can resist capturing me. For now, just know I'm on your side." Max replied, using Flamethrower to finish off the Grotle.

"I'll hold you to that." The Jolteon said.

The conversation was interrupted by a shout from the trainer; "Arcanine, behind you!"

Max turned just in time to dodge a tackling Cacnea, biting into it with Fire Fang before turning and nodding his thanks to the trainer.

 _'Alright, thank you for looking out for me, random trainer.'_ Max thought, _'better not get distracted again.'_ he added as he looked around himself a bit.

A Leafeon was fighting half-heartedly, a pained look on its face. The poor Pokémon was obviously being forced to fight against his will.

"Sorry! I'm so sorry!" He whimpered as he got ready to attack.

Max, seeing this, used Extreme Speed and appeared before him, knocking him down just hard enough to look like an actual takedown. "Don't be. Stay down." Max advised the Leafeon, which nodded slightly at the prospect of getting out of the fight and let himself go limp.

The Arcanine dove back into the fight again and used another few Flame Bursts on the thieves Pokémon, and with the pressure taken off the Jolteon and Mightyena, they eventually managed to defeat almost every Pokémon the thieves had brought with them.

"Damn mutt..." The leader muttered to himself, watching as his men were beaten one by one as the trainer took advantage of the distraction caused by the Arcanine, "If that thing hadn't interfered, we'd have won!" He said to himself, slowly making his way forward, "Well, I'm not leaving empty handed... And that Arcanine seems pretty powerful." he smirks, bursting out from behind a piece of debris, stun baton in hand.

The trainer saw him, and who he was going for – the Arcanine that had undoubtedly saved his Pokémon by giving them time to recover.

"Watch out Arcanine!" He yelled, a fraction of a second too late. As Max turned to face him, the man jabbed the stun baton into him roughly, triggering its powerful charge and sending the Arcanine flying with a yelp, his fur singed where the baton had made contact as he tried to get up, only to be knocked down again by a vicious swipe to his face.

 _'Oww... I... Have to... Oh, no!'_ Max thought as he saw the man take out a Pokeball. _'No... Please no...'_

The Pokeball flying towards him and being engulfed in red light was the last thing he saw before everything became darkness.

Max floated in blackness for several long moments, overwhelmed by terror and despair, until he saw a brief red flash somewhere in the distance. _'A way out! It has to be!'_ He realized, trying to move towards it. The light blinked twice more as he moved.

 _'Almost... There...'_ Suddenly the light blinked again and faded, and Max felt his momentum stop completely, now feeling like he was simply floating in the darkness.

It took several long moments for Max to realize what had happened to him: he'd been captured. His brief paralysis when first captured had cost him, and now he was stuck in here.

His long howl of sorrow and despair went unheard, trapped within the cheerfully coloured plastic exterior of the Pokeball.

 _ **Yeah, bit of a bummer there to end it. Oh well.**_

 _ **As always, reviews or anything are appreciated!**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Heart Of Flame**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Trainer's POV**

Kyle watched helplessly as the Arcanine that had tried to help him was captured by one of the criminals.

He knew enough about how they operated to know that the poor creature would be subject to a life of misery if they escaped with it, forced to take part in raids like this that it clearly knew were wrong.

 _'Well, I'm not letting you take Arcanine...'_ He thought, before yelling a command to his Jolteon, Sparks.

"Sparks! Shock him!" He ordered, the Jolteon gleefully accepting and striking the thief with a burst of electricity about equal to a Taser, sending him convulsing to the ground and dropping the Pokeball.

"Nice one, Sparks!" He said with a smile.

"Jolteon Jolt!" Sparks replied, seeming to smile back.

"Now, make sure none of these people get out." He said, gesturing to the rest of the thieves.

Sparks nodded and walked over to the group, sparks arcing across his fur. "That means you too, Ava." He added to the Mightyena.

She nodded too and walked over beside the Jolteon.

The trainer kicked away their shock batons and held one himself, he and his Pokémon standing vigil over them until finally the police arrived thanks to a call from a passerby.

After a brief discussion with them, the trainer was let out of the building and was talking to one of the officers.

"So..." Kyle asked, looking towards the Pokémon centre, "What will happen to them?"

"The thieves, or the Pokémon?" The police officer asked.

"Both."

"The humans will all be charged with attempting to steal Pokémon and for the property damage they caused. Obviously, the Pokémon they stole will be returned to their owners, and their own Pokémon will go to a rescue centre. Once they're certified fit and healthy, we'll return them too if they turn out to be stolen, or release them into the wild. If they're not, cruelty to or improper care of Pokémon will be added to the list." The officer explained.

"Good, as long as they get justice." Kyle nodded.

"They will, I promise." The officer said. "There is one more thing though."

"Which is?" Kyle asked.

"The Arcanine that helped you. We know he was wild, and apart from minor injuries from the fight, is healthy. That means there's no particular reason to bring him to the rescue centre."

"Wait. He's not been let out of his pokeball yet. How do you know his gender?"

"Our pokedexes can interface with pokeballs and get basic information on the occupants. They also let us change the ownership record, which is how we plan to rescue the thieve's Pokémon."

"Ah. Well, that makes sense I guess. Wait... Are you saying that I can have him?"

"Without you, a whole lot of Pokémon would have been stolen and this gang would have been free to continue their activities. So yes, think of it as your reward. If you don't want to, I'll just send him along with the others."

"Well... I do kinda need a fire type..." Kyle thought aloud, "What do you two think?" He asked, looking at Sparks and Ava, Esper still unconscious in his arms. With the Pokémon center in its current state, what he really wanted to to try and do was find some healing berries in the woods. Until then, he'd have to make do without the psychic type to translate.

Both the Jolteon and the Mightyena nodded quickly, Ava wagging her tail a little.

"I'm gonna say that's a yes." He smiles a bit, rubbing the Mightyena's head a bit, "OK, I'll take him. If he's willing anyway."

"Great! OK, just hand me your Pokedex and I'll register him to you. And I'm sure he will be, as long as you treat him as well as you do your other Pokémon. Not many go to the effort of keeping them out of their pokeballs."

"Tell me about it. They obviously don't like it, so I try not to force the issue." Kyle said, doing so.

The officer Jenny pressed a few buttons on her law-enforcement grade pokedex and Kyle's Trainer grade, then touched the Pokeball to the latter, the pokedex chiming as it linked.

"There you go, all done." The officer smiled, "Take good care of him."

"I will." Kyle promised, "Thank you."

"Just doing my job. Well, goodbye then."

"Bye!" Kyle said, starting to walk away.

He knew the Arcanine was probably fretting over being captured by that criminal, so he decided it would be best to let him out as soon as possible, but away from the town a bit.

He also still wanted to heal Esper, who was now awake but obviously still in pain.

 _'What happened while I was out..?'_ the Psychic type asked through his thoughts. Kyle had long since gotten used to this, and simply smiled slightly.

"A wild Arcanine turned up and helped us, but he was captured by one of those thieves. Thankfully the police arrived soon after and transferred him, so we have a new team member now!"

"Jolteon, Jol, Jolt..." Sparks said.

 _'He says that Arcanine didn't want to explain himself until after, and only if you didn't capture him. Probably only helped because the idea of pokemon being stolen was so repugnant.'_ Esper translated.

"... Ah. That could be a problem, if he was so against being captured at all..." Kyle said, sighing.

 _'We won't know unless you let him out.'_

"Good point. I'd like to heal you properly first though, Esper..." Kyle said with a note of worry.

 _'I'll be fine given some time. We heal faster than you humans, remember?'_ Esper insisted, _'Let him out, the poor guy's probably scared himself half to death by now, given the circumstances of his capture.'_

"... Alright, you win." Kyle admitted, not really wanting to unnecessarily stress the Arcanine.

He placed Esper down on the ground gently, then picked up Arcanine's Pokeball.

"OK, here goes... Go, Arcanine!" He yelled, triggering the Pokeball.

A terrified sounding howl came first as the Arcanine stumbled out, stopping his howl as he realized he was out. He then whirled around to face the way he came from.

"A-Ar... Arcanine... Ar..." The Arcanine whimpered softly, trembling as he looked up at the trainer.

 _'He's... He's begging you not to hurt him.'_ Esper told Kyle. _'He's not just scared, he's terrified!'_

The trainer was aghast: the absolute last thing he wanted was for his Pokémon to be terrified of him, for any reason!

He knelt down to the Arcanine's height and held out a hand for him to sniff, knowing that Canine Pokémon liked to know the scents of whoever they travelled with, "Hey, it's OK Arcanine." He said gently, "You remember me, right?"

The Arcanine seemed to calm down a bit as he got a proper look at the trainer, and nodded slightly, "Arcanine. Arc ar?" he said, the tone of his voice making the last part sound like a question.

 _'He's asking how come he's with you and not the thief.'_ Esper said, at a probing look from Kyle.

"Thanks to your help, we won and the police arrived. Since their Pokémon were being either set free or returned to their owners, I was given your Pokeball." Kyle explained to the Arcanine, "I'd never hurt you, Arcanine. Please don't be scared."

Max glared at him with a bit of anger. He wouldn't have minded so much, if not for the fact he didn't feel this trainer had earned it. True, he'd helped Max out a bit by warning him, but he didn't feel that was enough for the trainer to have him.

Kyle seemed to understand, sighing, "Yeah, I know, it's kinda unfair for you... Can you at least give me a chance?"

"Aw, come on, he's not that bad..." The Jolteon implored him, almost begging.

Max looked at him and sighed, "I don't doubt that. I just... It doesn't feel right. And I've got something I have to do." He said, remembering his brother.

Kyle and Esper shared a look and a silent conversation, before he stepped forward, "Maybe we can help with that."

"Hmm..." Max said thoughtfully. That was certainly... Tempting...

"If you don't want to, I'll release you. I don't want to force anyone to come along with me. But, I only have one Gym left to do, and I'll help you with whatever it is you need to do afterwards." Kyle clarified his offer.

Max thought about it a bit longer. True, without the trainer he'd be able to get on with searching for Daniel and Jenna that much faster, but then he risked being captured again by another trainer that was not as generous, or at least wouldn't have a Psychic Type and so couldn't understand him.

However, the thing that finally swayed him was Jade's words from earlier, that a trainer willing to let him leave may be just the type of trainer he'd want to have. It was a very good point, and he felt that it may just be worth it.

Heck, maybe this could be interesting.

"Hmm… Alright, I can agree to that, with some conditions. "Don't put me in a Pokeball unless I'm seriously injured, or its the only way to get somewhere. And for trainer battles... I'll follow your directions as long as they're not plain stupid, like telling me to use one of my fire moves on an opponent with Flash Fire. If you could give me some leeway, I'll do my best. And finally... I'm looking for my brother, but I've got no idea where he is. Travelling around with you is my best bet for finding him, but not if I can't look around every now and then..."

"That sounds fairly reasonable, I give you guys a lot more leeway in fighting than most, so don't worry about that - I generally only warn you of attacks and let you get on with fighting: seeing numbers on a Pokedex screen is one thing, but you know your capabilities better than I do. I try to keep you all out of Pokeballs anyway, so that's fine too. However... For the final one, you're asking me to let you wander, right?"

Max nods slightly, "Yea... Please, I promise I won't run or anything, and it'll mostly just be asking some local Pokémon if they've seen him."

"Well... I can't really say no, if you just want to search for him. But don't get into any trouble please, especially not any fights. If someone thinks you're wild..."

"That could be bad, yea... I'll still be with you most of the time, this is just if I need to chase a lead." Max nodded slightly.

"Good. Well then, welcome to the team." Kyle said, petting Max's head with a smile.

 _ **I would have made this longer, but… well, while I appreciate follows and favourites, a 4000+ word chapter with NO reviews really knocked me. Just, none, after more than a week. Seriously, just one or two words, anything!**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Heart of Flame**

 **Chapter 4**

Max gave a happy wag of his tail as the trainer petted him, before reluctantly stepping back and looking at the other three Pokémon - A Mightyena, a Jolteon and an Espeon, whom he assumed was the one translating his words for the trainer.

"Hello." He greeted them politely, figuring that if he was going to be on a team with them he should try to get to know them all, "My name's Max, yours?"

"I'm Sparks." The Jolteon replied, smiling a bit.

"My name's Ava." The Mightyena said, nodding slightly to the other canine Pokémon.

"And I'm Esper." The Espeon added with a smile. "Our trainer's name is Kyle."

Max nodded, "Nice to meet you all."

"Same here! We've been looking for someone willing to join for ages!" Sparks exclaimed excitedly, running around in a little circle.

Ava giggled a bit at his antics, "Hyper little 'eon, isn't he?"

Max chuckled and nodded in agreement, the Jolteon seemed hardly able to keep still.

"Jolteon's are among the fastest Pokémon there are apart from legendaries." Esper said, chuckling slightly as well, "It's hardly surprising he's a ball of pure energy."

"True." Max smiled.

After a few seconds the trainer spoke up, "So, your name's Max?" He asked.

Max nodded, "Yep, that's me!"

"Bit of an odd name for a Pokémon, but that's not for me to decide, I guess. I'm Kyle, pleased to meet you." Kyle said, smiling.

"Same here." Max replied, "So, now I'm on the team, what's the plan?"

"Well, I'd still like to know why you helped us." Sparks said, having calmed down a bit now.

"I'll tell you all after I've got it all figured out myself. This is all kind of new for me." Max said, mainly to think of how best to tell them about himself.

"Well, until then I've got something we can do." Kyle said.

Max gave him an inquisitive look and he continued. "There's a primarily grass type gym in Celadon I've been trying to get through, last time I got stopped because Sparks was the strongest out of everyone I had at that point and his attacks couldn't do much to them. But you're strong against them, as we just saw, and I think everyone else is a bit stronger than they were before too."

"You said it's your final badge, right? They're not going to make it easy for you." Max said after a bit of thought.

"I wouldn't want them to." Kyle replied with a smile, "Now, I'd kinda like to see how you fight Max, do you mind?"

"If I did, I wouldn't have agreed to go with you," Max said with a smile.

"Good because here comes trouble." Ava said with a low growl.

Max, Kyle, Sparks and Esper turned to where she was already looking to see another trainer walking towards them.

"Oh... That's Jack, a dedicated bug type trainer and my rival, I suppose you could say. Though he is kind of rude. Hmm... Max, want to go first?" Kyle asked, wanting to see in a more normal fight how the Arcanine fought.

"Well, if he's a bug type specialist as you say... Sure." Max nodded, just as interested in seeing how Kyle would handle the fight.

Jack noticed the team at that point, turning towards them.

"Aha! I was wondering where you and your pathetic Pokémon had gotten to!" He laughed.

Sparks and Ava growled at the insult, while Esper just glared.

"These three very nearly beat your team of six last time, Jack." Kyle reminded, "And I don't like people insulting my friends. You want to fight, let's go!"

"I've gotten a lot stronger too." Jack smirked, throwing a Pokeball "Go, Parasect! Let's see your precious Jolteon beat a bug/grass type!"

"Thankfully, he doesn't have to." Kyle said, smiling confidently. He'd wanted to wait until his opponents Butterfree was out, but not at the expense of Sparks.

"Max, go show him what I mean!" Kyle smiled, gesturing Max to just in front of him.

Max, already familiar with the process, calmly stepped into his position facing the Parasect, growling fiercely.

"What the!? Where did you get an Arcanine?" Jack demanded, having apparently not seen him until he stepped out in front.

"I saw him fighting and asked if he wanted to come along, and he said yes." Kyle replied with a smile.

"Max, use your best judgement. Show me what you can do." Kyle said, effectively giving Max permission to act on his own.

"What kind of-whoa!" Jack yelled, as his Parasect was blasted back by a Flame Charge that Max had used to boost his speed as well as cause some serious damage.

Surprisingly, instead of returning the Parasect Jack commanded it to use poison powder.

Max's eyes widened as he was caught in the edges of the cloud of powder, coughing several times on it.

"Hah! Let's see if your Arcanine is so tough now!"

Max, thoroughly annoyed by this and in a fair bit of pain from the poison, took a deep breath and Flamethrowered the Parasect, holding the cone of flame for several seconds before stopping, the Parasect now rather badly burned and unable to fight.

"Looks like he's still capable of handling you, Jack!" Max chuckled slightly, "You OK Max?"

Max looked back to him and nodded slightly as he coughed again, feeling the poison start to drain his strength.

"Ar*cough*canine. Canine."

 _'He says he thinks he's been poisoned, but he can manage another one at least.'_

 _'The poison won't effect him in the Pokeball... Damn I wish I had some antidotes with me...'_ Kyle thought to himself.

"Max, return for now!" he said, deciding to stop him collapsing from the poison and returning him to his Pokeball. Without an Antidote on hand, poison attacks were among the only ones capable of actually straight up killing a Pokémon, or at least truly harming them. He didn't want to take that risk.

Jack smirked, "So your big tough Arcanine can't even take out a Pokemon with double weakness to him without going down?"

"I care for him, Jack. I'm not going to risk him fighting while poisoned." Kyle countered, "Sparks, your turn!"

The Jolteon nodded and ran up to his position.

"I thought so. Beedrill, go!"

The Bee-like Pokémon flew out of its Pokeball, revving its drills threateningly.

"Sparks, you know what to do!" Kyle shouted, "Thunderbolt, then Tackle!"

Sparks nodded and fired the bolt of electricity straight at the Beedrill.

"Beedrill, dodge and use Twineedle!"

The Bug type obeyed and managed to dodge, launching the Twineedle at Sparks.

But Jolteon's were among the fastest land based pokemon in existence, and Sparks was no exception, nimbly sidestepping the attack and using Thunder shock.

This time the attack hit, and Beedrill was Paralyzed as the Jolteon launched into a series of Quick Attacks and Tackles, the Pokémon eventually being recalled.

"Gah... Kricketkune!"

The other Bug type emerged as well, only to be similarly defeated. Sparks first paralyzing it with a Thunder Shock and then whaling on the paralyzed Pokémon.

"Noticing a pattern here, Jack? I concentrated on helping my four pokemon grow, while you just filled your team as quickly as possible. The only reason I recalled Max was that I don't have any spare Antidote's." Kyle said confidently.

"More fool you. Venonat, go! Toxic!"

"Ohh..." Kyle muttered, realizing his mistake. He'd basically just told Jack that any successful poison attack would put his Pokémon out of the fight. "Crap. Sorry, Sparks! Try to dodge!"

Sparks nodded and started running, his body becoming a blur as he dodged the toxic and then leaned in to a quick attack, before using Thunderbolt again.

"Venonat-" Jack started, before the Pokémon was blasted across the field by the powerful electric type attack.

"Damn. Venonat, return! Umm... Go, Combee!"

Kyle laughed as the Combee materialized, "A Combee? You really were rushing to fill your team! Sparks, Thunder Fang!"

Sparks smirked and bit into the Combee, channeling his latent electrical charge through one of his fangs and giving the Combee the shock of its life.

"Gah! Not again! I won't lose to that infernal Jolteon! Butterfree, go!"

'I knew it!' Kyle thought, "Sparks, do it!"

Sparks ran forward, his fang already glowing... And was promptly encompassed in a cloud of Poison Powder as the Butterfree dodged.

The Jolteon yipped, unused to the feeling.

"Butterfree, Stun Spore!"

Kyle gulped, realizing the still coughing Jolteon would be unable to dodge this time. "Return, Sparks!" He yelled, drawing the Pokémon back.

The smaller Pokémon was much more effected by the poison than Max had been, and Ava was at a disadvantage as Butterfree's moves would hit her for double damage.

"Max, finish this quickly!" He said, releasing the Arcanine again.

He looked back at Kyle and growled a little, expressing his distaste for being put back in the Pokeball so quickly.

"Sorry, I couldn't risk you that early in the fight!" Kyle apologized to the Arcanine.

Max gave a huff in acknowledgment, then bathed the battlefield with another long duration Flamethrower, giving only a light cough as the poison resumed its effects on him.

The Butterfree jinked and dived, trying to evade the Flamethrower, but was caught by the attack eventually, badly burning one of its wings.

"Butterfree, Psybeam!" Jack commanded, using one of his Butterfree's only moves without a type disadvantage.

Max blurred, and disappeared, reappearing just above and behind Butterfree, whereupon he downed the Bug type with a Powerful Fire fang.

"W-what was that!?" Jack asked, seeing his Butterfree fall to the ground.

"I think he just used Extreme speed to dodge and get into position, then, of course, Fire Fang." Kyle commented, rather impressed, "And without any instructions from me, too. He's a smart one alright."

Max just smiled and wagged his tail a bit from the compliment, batting the Butterfree with a paw as it tried to get up and knocking it out cold.

"You're rewarding your Pokémon for ignoring your orders!?"

"I'm rewarding him for showing initiative and winning the battle. Besides, in case you didn't notice, I didn't give him any orders. He was very recently a wild Pokémon, he's good at acting on his own, and the speed he can react because of that gives him an advantage. Honestly I don't get your thing with Micromanaging your Pokémon, even when I was ordering Sparks that's because he's still not quite used to battling on his own."

"But Pokémon are supposed to obey humans!"

"... Why?" Kyle asked pointedly, "You've seen the tests, a lot of them are just as smart as we are, and they're also both far stronger and faster than we are. I'd say we're lucky they even put up with us. And that they actually like travelling around and getting stronger."

"Pfft. Those reports can be falsified. Pokémon are animals, nothing more." Jack blew him off.

Kyle rose a hand to forestall any attacks coming from his four now rather irate Pokémon.

"Whatever, I'm not going to get into an argument with you over this." He said, shaking his head, "We won. Hand over the victory reward."

Jack, grumbling, threw a note to him, and stormed off.

Kyle sighed and bent down to gently stroke each Pokémon, "Sorry about that. I know you're not animals."

'It's fine, Kyle. We're all used to it.' Esper replied.

"It's still wrong though..." Kyle said, frowning. "Well... Let's get back to town and get you two healed and cured." He added to Max and Sparks. "Very good job by the way."

"Arc! Arcanine!"

"Jolt!"

'Max says he's glad he could help win his first battle for you, and Sparks says he's just happy we won.'

The Arcanine nodded in affirmation, but then coughed heavily and stumbled, "Ar... Arc...c-c-canine..."

Kyle ran forward and held the Arcanine, stopping him from falling.

'He's feeling weak, and... Cold...' Esper said, sounding worried.

"That's bad." Kyle muttered, "Max, you need to go in your Pokeball. It'll keep you from getting any worse at least. If you're feeling cold, that poison must have been stronger than I thought." He said, rubbing the Arcanine's head gently as he whined.

"I know... I'm sorry, but it's the only way; I can't carry you, and its better than dying of poison out here... Damnit, I should've remembered to bring antidotes. I let you guys down..." Kyle sighed, looking at his two poisoned Pokémon.

Sparks gave him a little nuzzle and a whimper, telling him it wasn't his fault. They'd intended to get supplies from the now destroyed Pokémon center, it wasn't his fault that the gang had chosen that moment to attack.

Kyle smiled a bit as he petted the faithful Jolteon, then hugged the Arcanine. "I'll let you out as soon as I can, and I'll get you whatever you want, OK?"

Max nodded weakly, and Kyle reluctantly returned him, before bending down to pick up Sparks. "Relax little guy, save your strength." He told the Jolteon as he started running back into the town, Esper and Ava running alongside them.

As he approached the Pokémon center again, he saw a temporary set up next to it under a large tent - the Pokémon center was the only one nearby, so getting it at least partially working again had been deemed vital.

He ran other to where one of the Nurses was standing next to a portable healing machine, which had been hooked into the power supply of the building with a large cable that snaked in through a window.

"Hello, can I help you?" The Nurse Joy asked, looking at him.

"My Jolteon and Arcanine were poisoned, and I don't have any antidotes with me..." Kyle said, feeling guilty, "Can you help them?"

"Of course, it's what I do!" Nurse joy replied, smiling, "It'll work better with them in Pokeballs, that way the machine can handle it."

"Max is already in his Pokeball... He seemed pretty bad." Kyle said, handing the Pokeball to the nurse and whispering an apology to Sparks before returning him too, handing over that Pokeball too.

"We can handle it." Nurse joy assured him, placing both Pokeballs in the machine, "hmm... Wait a moment, you're the trainer that helped us! Is this the Arcanine from in there too?"

"Yes, he is." Kyle nodded as the machine whirred, "I feel really bad about this, he risked himself to help us and then again by being willing to battle for me."

"Well, if you're guilty about this then that makes you a good person. Some just blame their Pokémon for getting hit." The nurse said, shaking her head slightly in disbelief.

"That's stupid." Kyle sighs, "It's my fault, he did well the rest of the fight, I just don't think he's ever fought a Pokémon with a poison attack before. I should have warned him about it."

"Well, warning them is always a good idea. And take some Antidotes with you this time - don't worry, it's on the house. It's the least we can do." The Nurse said as the machine 'ding'ed and opened. "Ah, all done!"

"Thank you." Kyle sighed in relief, taking the Pokeballs back from her.

"You're welcome. And here, take these." The nurse said, handing him a few antidote bottles, "Of course, the best strategy would be to not get poisoned, but maybe these will help."

"Thank you so much." Kyle smiled, "I don't know what I'd do without these guys... Goodbye, I guess."

"Goodbye. I would say see you soon, but that might be a bad thing." Nurse Joy giggled, and Kyle smiled and nodded in agreement, letting Max and Sparks out after walking a bit away.

Sparks shook himself, sparks flying from his fur as he smiled a bit, while Max stretched out a bit, enjoying being out again.

Kyle rubbed his head gently, running a hand through the Arcanine's thick fur.

"I'm sorry about today, Max. You don't normally spend nearly as much time in Pokeballs, and this was because I got distracted from getting supplies." He apologized again, "Same to you, Sparks."

Max rubbed his big head against hhim accepting the apology. Kyle smiled a bit as he continued to pet the large canine. "Hungry?"

All of the Pokémon nodded slightly, and Sparks' stomach emitted a surprisingly loud rumble for his small size. Max turned to him and made a series of noises that sounded suspiciously like laughter at the little Electric type.

"Don't tease him, Max." Kyle chuckled, "Come on, I know a restaurant that let's Pokémon sit at the tables at least, and they'll get you human food. My treat."

Max wagged his tail happily at that, "Arcanine, Arc?"

 _'He's asking if he can have steak.'_ Esper translated simply, _'and... Now he's drooling. Ew.'_

Kyle laughed a little at that. "Sure you can, Max. Just stop drooling, or they won't let you in."

Max had the good grace to look embarrassed at least, wiping his mouth with a paw and closing it, his tail still wagging happily.

"They have Psychic types on standby there, to take orders from Pokémon. One of the few places that is doing it right now, but they're getting popular." Kyle explained, "With trainers like me at least."

 _'Wait, we place orders? Since when did we get paid?'_ Esper asked.

"You don't." Kyle laughed, "Though, I suppose it would make sense... Anyway, no, it goes onto my tab. So don't order anything too expensive, please."

"Arc."

 _'He says no promises.'_ Esper translated, _'and I think I'm going to work out some kind of low level Psychic field so I don't have to keep doing this.'_

"That would be a good idea." Kyle nodded, deciding to ignore Max's comment. This was pretty much all for him anyway, so he couldn't exactly stop the Arcanine. Not that he felt too worried about it: the Arcanine seemed smart enough to know that using too much on this would be bad, sine Kyle also needed money to feed them all.

Kyle led the group into the restaurant, Max looking around and seeming a bit overwhelmed seeing so many humans and Pokémon talking in the same place.

"Oh, hello there." The doorman said, walking over to them, "Table for five?"

"Yes please." Kyle nods, smiling and looking back to Max. "Feel free to have a chat, Max. The Physics have a field up like what Esper was talking about."

"Oh, thanks!" Max said, and Kyle smiled slightly, happy to actually hear the Arcanine's true voice for once.

"Right, table 15 is free, third row, the table closest."

"Thank you."

The group walked over to the table he had indicated, and all took their seats.

Max looked around slightly, rather overwhelmed by all this. He'd never liked being among large groups of people - he preferred smaller groups - and this was the most humans and Pokémon he'd seen since becoming an Arcanine. He shifted a bit uncomfortably as a few looked at him, Arcanine's being rare enough due to their need for a fire stone for more than cursory interest.

Panting nervously, he looked down a bit, waiting for someone to take their order.

"Doggy!" A young voice shouted happily, and Max felt a pair of little arms wrap around him, hugging him and almost knocking him off the chair he was sat on.

"Hey!" He said, a little indignantly.

An older human, looking to be in their mid forty's, bent down and pulled the youngster off the Arcanine.

"Sorry about that, Arcanine." The man said, holding the kid away from him, "Thomas gets a bit excited sometimes, and he really likes Canine Pokémon."

Max looked at him and gave him a reassuring smile, careful not to show any teeth. "It's fine, just caught me by surprise." He said, "I'm still trying to get used to being in a city..." _'...Again.'_ he added mentally. As if it wasn't enough that he was only used to the village he had come from, it was even stranger for him walking around as a Pokémon. He supposed he'd just have to get used to it.

"Ah, recently captured huh?" The man asked, smiling sympathetically.

"In a way..." Max nodded a little, looking over to Kyle, who nodded back to say he could continue. "Did you hear about the gang that tried to steal the Pokémon from the Pokémon center? "

"Yea, it was on the news." The man replied, "Apparently a wild Arcanine helped stop them."

"Ah, yeah, that was me." Max chuckled, "Long story, but it wasn't as impressive as it sounds. There were a lot of Grass types and I basically just acted as a distraction."

"Hey, don't downplay your own involvement in it!" Ava giggled, "Seriously, we wouldn't have won if it wasn't for you and that Ninetales giving them something else to focus on. What was her name again, Jo or something?"

"Jade." Max corrected her, "How is she, anyway? She seemed nice enough."

"Oh, she and her trainer left after a few minutes, she said something about needed to have done something for a long time. She did ask me to tell you she said thanks, though."

Max smiled happily, "That's great!" He said, having a good idea of what that could be. He then turned back to the man, "So, yeah, I did end up being captured by them, but my Pokeball was confiscated and given to Kyle here. He did offer to let me go if I wanted, but… Well, I figure I can give this Pokemon Team thing a try."

"That's good." The man said with a nod, then turned to Kyle, "Look after him, young man. It's not often that a Pokémon will trust you enough to go voluntarily before they've gotten to know you well."

"I will, you don't have to worry about that." Kyle replied and the man nodded and left, bringing the youg boy with him.

"So, what would you guys like to try?" Kyle asked.

"Um, just the Steak please." Max said.

"I'll have the same as Max." Ava said, smiling a bit.

"Fish, please." Sparks spoke up, Esper nodding in agreement.

"Alright..." Kyle nodded, "You guys wait here, then. I'll go make our order." He said, getting up.

The Pokemon nodded collectively and watched him go, then looked back to eachother.

"Soo..." Sparks said, "Mind telling us why you were in that Pokemon Center in the first place?"

Max thought a bit, then shrugged, "It's a long story..."

 _ **It's been a while, I know, I just had very little time as inspiration. That's also the reason that the latter parts of this chapter may not be up to my usual standard, but I hope you guys can enjoy it anyway! Next chapter, the plot itself actually starts moving ;)**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Just a couple things to let you all know. One, I don't plan on any of the Pokémon being kept in pokeballs too long. It's a lazy plot device I see far too often here. That doesn't mean it won't happen, but it'll be due to the story when it does, not just when I decide I don't want to write one of the characters. Two, if anyone could review and just tell me what you like, what you don't like, where you hope this is going etc, I would really appreciate it. Even if you don't have an account, please just let me know what you think.**_

 **Heart of Flame**

 **Chapter 5**

"We've got time." Sparks insisted, "Pleaseee?"

Max smiled a little at the Jolteon, _'Well… I can't really tell them I used to be human, but… I don't want to lie to them. Hmm…'_ He eventually decided to tell them the basics of his life, but from the perspective of an Arcanine, taking a few events from Jenna's life to fill in for some of his own.

"I grew up near a town to the... North of here, I think, Viridian, in a small village that isn't even on most maps. I don't remember much of my actual family, just my adoptive, human, family. They... Well, they never treated me any differently to any of the other family members, and most importantly they didn't permanently capture me. Said it was my choice to make. Anyway, just a couple days ago now me and my brother went off on a journey, but we were... Separated, in a fire someone set in a Pokémon center. I don't remember much of it, and when I woke up it was in a part of the forest I didn't recognise. I decided to stay near the local Pokémon center in hopes that he might eventually pass through, but you know what happened to that plan. For now, I think my best chance of finding him is to travel with you." Max said. It was partially true – they'd adopted Jenna as a Growlithe after her parents had been killed in a cave in of their den. They had always called her sister, and made it clear she could leave whenever she wanted. It was also true that Max and Tom had set off on their Journey together, though with her as their starter after she had agreed. _'I hope they're OK...'_ He thought sadly.

"Oh, wow... That's terrible..." Kyle said sympathetically, "To be separated like that..."

"It... It's fine. He's OK, I know it." Max said as confidently as he could manage.

"That's good. Hmm... I'll go next. I grew up in a small town south of here, and well, Sparks was my fifth birthday present, not as a fighting Pokémon because of my age, just a companion."

"Right!" Sparks stepped in, "Of course, I was only an Eevee then, but I made it pretty clear I wanted to grow up to be a Jolteon, which is where my name came from. Kyle got a Thunder stone as his tenth birthday present, and I evolved sharpish! After that we spent a while training me for actual combat, though... Well, you've seen that I need more pointers than you do."

"You did pretty well, I think." Max said to him, "Actually, now that I think of it... Don't be afraid to give me orders, Kyle. You've got a better view of a battle than I do."

"If I need to, I will." Kyle nodded, "You seem to do pretty well by yourself anyway, though."

"Thank you." Max smiled, wagging happily.

"My turn, I believe." Esper said, "I wasn't so much the first Pokémon they found as the first one willing to be captured - Kyle didn't want to force anyone to come along. Both he and Sparks were very appreciative of my ability though."

"What can I say, it was nice to be understood properly for once." Sparks chuckled.

"I was just glad I'd already decided to keep you out of your Pokeballs." Kyle sighed, "I'd had no idea how bad it was in there."

"It's not your fault." Esper consoled him, "Anyway, yea, I joined them after that. We had a battle, but it was more for tradition than anything else."

"Sounds good. What about you, Ava?" Max asked the Mightyena.

She gave a small whine, "I... I was a trade..."

Kyle started rubbing her head comfortingly as he sighed. "Yea... She'd been with this guy for years, she was completely dedicated to him... And he traded her for a Fire stone for his Vulpix. I wouldn't have gone through with it when I realized how upset it was making her, but then I overheard him talking about sending her to a breeding daycare center..."

Ava winced and nodded weakly, "Yea... I... I thought he was my friend, that he'd never do that to me... When I realized he would, I... I didn't know what to think..."

Max's eyes widened, "Wow... That... That's horrible..."

"It's OK... He didn't deserve me anyway." She said, giving a slight smirk, "And honestly, Kyle is a lot nicer to live with."

"I do try to be." Kyle smiled a bit, "And besides, I'm glad to have you Ava. You're actually very strong, don't let anyone tell you anything different."

"Thank you." She smiled, "I always put in my all."

Max smiled at them, deeply relieved. At least it seemed that he wasn't normally the type to trade, which he was very grateful for that.

Soon enough his steak arrived, and Max dug in hungrily, wagging his tail happily at the taste of the meat. He was immensely glad that he'd noticed the small green sign with the picture of a Pokémon on it outside the restaurant, signifying no Pokémon were eaten there – it was usually either 'fake' meat such as Qourn, or vat-grown meat. It meant he didn't have to feel guilty about eating another Pokémon at least.

Of course, other than trainers generally being hateful of Pokémon meat, the other reason it was growing more popular was because restaurants that didn't had developed a nasty habit of spontaneous combustion when empty, usually due to a Shaymin or Fire Type Legendary like an Entei. Mainly because they were the most 'common' legendary that could cause targeted explosions thanks to Seed Flare.

There was also the fact that while they loved doing good things and feeling people's gratitude, like all Pokémon they were a balance, and had very specific morals they lived by. Anyone that managed to get a Shaymin truly angry generally never did so again. Usually because they were vaporized.

The rest of the meal went by in relative silence, until Max noticed a paw prodding him.

Turning, he saw that the Pokémon that had been doing so was another Arcanine – and judging by his formal positioning, he was likely a Police Arcanine.

Making sure everyone else was still preoccupied with eating Max dropped down from his low chair to be face to face with him, "Yes, officer?"

The other Arcanine chuckled slightly, smiling, "Technically I don't have that title. But thank you. My partner wanted me to ask you about what happened in the Pokémon center, and also answer any questions you have. We figured it might seem you were in trouble if she came instead. Plus of course the obvious privacy advantages of holding a conversation in Pokéspeech."

Max nodded slightly in understanding, "I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I'll do my best."

"Alright, good. First, just to verify a few things, you arrived there after having been caught out in the rain, correct?"

"Yeah." Max nodded, "I knew Pokémon centres' generally help wild Pokémon too, so..."

"right, that's what Nurse Joy said, we just wanted to make sure. Now, about what happened when they entered..."

"Ah… yeah, about that..." Max said nervously, remembering his actions when the Pokémon thieves had first broken in.

"No, no you're not in trouble. Not many people actually know it, but the general Pokémon battle rules don't apply when fighting criminal teams like Team Rocket. Since many of their Pokémon are stolen or badly treated in one way or another it's even fine to just swipe their Pokeballs and hand them over to either a Pokémon centre or just release them. Same goes for Pokémon attacking humans, so long as you don't do any permanent damage that is. Knocking them out like you did is fine. Unless in direct self defence that is – if they pull a gun out, well..." The other Arcanine shrugged slightly, though from the slightly haunted look on his face he'd had to act in such a situation before. "Do what you need to."

Max nodded slightly in acceptance, though he sighed slightly, "That's good to know. I just hope I never have to act in that last case,"

"You shouldn't, only the really ruthless higher ups even have them." The Arcanine nodded slightly, shaking himself off, "So, that's really all I needed to know from you, the rest we have from the security cameras… Though, I think you need to know something about the group that attacked. From what we can tell they're part of Team Rocket, which is apparantly reforming itself to be more competent for starters." He said.

"That... Sounds bad..." Max said.

"Yeah... Well, the good news is that this newfound competency doesn't seem to extend to their grunts. The attack was fairly well planned, but the instant something unexpected happened – that being you – it pretty much fell apart."

"I noticed. Thanks for telling me at least." Max said, "Oh, before you go, may I have your name?"

"I'm Blaze." The Arcanine replied, "I know, typical name for a Fire Type, but it's what I was given." He shrugged, "Better than some people that just call us by species."

"I always did think that was rude." Max agreed, "Goodbye then."

Blaze nodded and walked back out nonchalantly.

Max tried to shake off the uneasiness the mention of Team Rocket had left him with, sitting back up to the table and carefully starting to drink, only now realizing how surprisingly thirsty he was.

"How does that feel, by the way? Drinking, I mean." Kyle asked him, watching Max drink.

"As a fire type? Hmm... Well, not much different to how I imagine it feels for you, I just have to be careful not to get too much of my fur wet with cold water. Apart from water attacks, that's the only way water really feels bad for me: when my fur's sodden. It feels like my fire is being put out." Max replied, shivering slightly as he remembered the first night he'd spent like this.

"Ouch, that must feel bad..."

"It does... That's why I was sleeping under cover. Getting caught in the rain sucks."

"Frankly, I hate the rain too..." Sparks muttered, "Technically I'm strong against water, but rain makes my charge short out..." He said, sounding annoyed.

"I was kind of expecting this." Kyle sighs, "If Sparks didn't like rain of course you wouldn't."

Max shrugged a little as he finished his drink, making Kyle chuckle slightly.

"Well, that's not really a problem since I don't either. Just tell me which you hate less: rain or Pokeball?"

"Depends. If its fairly light rain or we're only in it for a bit I'd rather stay out. If it's heavy and we'd have to be out for a while, I guess I'll go in..." Max said reluctantly.

"OK then. Don't worry, I'll try not to..." Kyle said, rubbing the Arcanine's head gently.

"OK, thanks." Max perked up slightly at the petting, "Oh, that feels nice..."

Kyle smiled and started scratching behind his ears, "It does, hmm?"

Max wagged his tail happily, "Yea... Ah, a little lower... That's the spot... Ahhhh..." He sighed in happiness, leaning into the scratching.

Kyle smiled and kept petting him until the bill arrived.

"We'll continue later." He said with a chuckle, as the Arcanine looked a little sad at that.

"Hey, me too!" Ava spoke up and Sparks smiled and nodded too.

"Oh, alright, all of you then." Kyle said, rolling his eyes a bit. "Hang on, where did Esper go?"

"Oh, I think he went over to talk to the Kadabra managing the psychic field we're in." Ava said, "Something about getting some pointers."

"Oh, OK. Fair enough." Kyle nodded. Some trainers might have been worried with their Pokémon going off on their own, but Kyle knew the Espeon was sensible enough and wouldn't get himself in any trouble.

He played for the meal and left a little extra as a tip before getting up and walking over to where the Psychic types were standing.

"So, it's more unconscious than anything?" Esper asked the Kadabra.

"Once you're used to it, yes. It's different to projecting your mental voice to him, since you're just providing a pathway for their thoughts. The hardest part I've found is to make sure I only transmit things they actually say, rather than what they think. It's important to make the distinction."

"Because everyone has a right to privacy in their own mind, yea... You've helped a lot, Kad, thank you. I'll think it over a bit more."

"Esper, you ready?" Kyle asked.

"Oh, yea, pretty much." Esper nodded, "All that's really left is some more practice."

"Sounds good." Kyle smiled, "Well, we need to be going soon so..."

"Yea, I know. Goodbye Kad," Esper said, "See you later I suppose."

"Yea, see you." Kad nodded, as Esper followed Kyle out of the building.

"So, did you all enjoy that?" Kyle asked after a while.

"Arc! Arcanine Ar!"" Max said happily, and Kyle sighed slightly as he remembered he still couldn't understand them properly.

"Jolt!" " Yena!"

 _"They all said yes or some variation of it."_ Esper supplied, _"Sorry about that, I'll try and practice my translations. I liked it too by the way."_

"Good." Kyle nodded and smiled, "I'm glad you did. We can't afford that every day though..."

He didn't need the translations to know that Max was saddened by that, as his tail and ears drooped sadly, but Ava soon nudged him and said something herself, making the Arcanine perk up slightly and wag his tail.

Kyle smiled slightly at that and started gently petting them, "Alright, let's go everyone. If we can make good time we'll be in the next town before it gets too late."

Each Pokémon nodded in agreement, and the group set off.

 _ **Sorry about this taking so long, School sucks... Anyway, please let me know what you think, and if anyone wants to suggest an OC I'll probably put them in. Until next time!**_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

* * *

Leaving the city behind, the group walked along the trail that led to the next town, stopping along the way to rest and make camp, where Max had the misfortune of finding that the Pokéfood Kyle had on hand was barely any better than what the Pokémon centre had given him, which resulted in a lot of exasperation from the human in question.

"Come on Max, I know you don't like it but you have to eat!" Kyle told the Arcanine as he simply sat staring away from the dish full of the dry kibble that was cheap Pokéfood.

Esper was resting inside the tent and keeping his translation field going subconsciously and Sparks was napping too, having finally worn himself out on the 500th lap of the camp, so he and Ava were the only ones with the misfortune of seeing this after the wonderful food they'd had yesterday.

"... Ava, do you really eat this?" He asked his fellow canine Pokémon.

Ava, for her part, looked completely indifferent about it, not even acknowledging the bowl in front of her.

"I'll take that as a no." Max said as she stood up and walked off into the forest with a hungry look on her face.

Kyle sighed and threw it away, "Well, that's another brand I know you don't like."

Max shrugged, somewhat apologetically.

"You could at least look guilty about wasting my money you know." Kyle teased him, though he gave Max a sandwich from his pack anyway.

Max wagged his tail happily as he ate the sandwich, enjoying the taste of it. It was still a bit strange to think of himself as someone's Pokémon, especially when he was being showered with treats and affection after winning a battle, but Kyle seemed to be a good trainer, and it was better than he had feared it would be when he was first captured.

In fact, it was actually rather nice to have friends watching his back.

The Pokéball though was still his least favourite part of it all, knowing that at any moment he could be drawn into a void of darkness inside it and he was now powerless to resist. It didn't hurt at least, and now that he knew it was Kyle who controlled it he wasn't really afraid of it... It was just mind numbingly boring in there.

Now he knew why Jenna had always wanted to stay out of hers. She was a playful one, being stuck doing nothing would be even worse for her.

He shook himself off slightly as Ava ran back towards them, wagging her tail happily. It wouldn't do to dwell too much on how Daniel and Jenna were doing,

A bit of blood on her jaws indicated her little hunt had been successful, though he tried his best not to pay any attention to it. She was a predatory Pokémon, it was the natural way of things. There was no satisfaction or malice in it, she simply couldn't survive entirely on berries.

He wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing that his new instincts kept telling him to do the same.

He was only glad that she, and most other Pokémon too, did not wish to cause unnecessary death. Fights over territory and between wild Pokémon and trainers would have been far more dangerous otherwise. That, he would have hated being a part of.

Max sighed and shook himself off. It was just how things were.

"So, did it go well then?" He asked her.

"Yep! Much better than Pokémon food. You should try it some time." Ava replied, smiling a bit.

"Maybe I will." He said non-committally.

"I'm never quite sure whether to be impressed or disturbed by your hunting, Ava." Kyle said as he watched them, "I mean, you do know I feed you anyway, right?"

"Yea, tasteless mush that is..." She grumbled.

"She has a point, Kyle. Pokémon 'food' barely deserves the term." Max said, remembering how disgusted he'd been when he realized he was supposed to eat _that_ both when they first made camp and just now for breakfast.

Kyle sighed slightly at that, "Sorry, Max. I know you don't like it, but it's all I can afford on a regular basis, so you'll have to eat it some time..."

"I don't blame you for it, I'd just... Like some variety." Max said sadly. Maybe he'd been spoiled by the steak yesterday, but he wasn't looking forward to living on Pokémon food.

Kyle rubbed the Arcanine's head gently, "I know... I'll try and get you some better stuff. I know there's some brands that Pokémon really like, I just haven't found one yet..."

"That would be better." Max smiled a little. "Thank you..."

Kyle nodded slightly, "You're welcome."

Max nodded and glanced over at the tent as Sparks stumbled out, yawning and shaking a few sparks out of his coat, seeming to have just woken up from his nap.

' _Oh, that reminds me...'_ Max thought, remembering how he'd struggled with his own electric attack.

"Hey Sparks. Would you mind helping me figure out Thunder Fang? I'd feel a lot more comfortable knowing I have a counter move against Water Types."

Sparks grinned at that, "Sure I can! I'm always happy to help bring more electricity!" He giggled, walking up to Max.

"So, you know Fire Fang, right?" he asked, to which Max nodded, "Then you already know how to channel power into your fangs, just need help summoning electricity, right?"

Max nodded, "Yeah, that's about it. Last time I tried, I just gave myself a static shock."

Sparks chuckled, "That often happens with non electric types. Alright, let's try this." The Jolteon stepped up next to Max and placed a paw on his side, "I'm going to act as your grounding rod, you just concentrate on generating an appreciable amount of electricity for now."

Max hesitated slightly, then nodded and tried to generate some electricity from within himself, the same way he created the fire for his Fire Fang attacks.

He jumped slightly as be felt a brief surge of electricity until Sparks absorbed it using his Volt Absorb ability, relishing in the feeling of his body healing a few minor scratches with the extra energy.

"Heh, pretty good voltage for a Fire Type." Sparks laughed, "Alright, now moving on to controlling it..."

The next half hour consisted of Sparks giving Max tips on how to control and maximize the current he could generate, and Max failing horribly and giving himself the poofiest fur ever not once, not twice but three times, until he finally managed to contain it in his mouth as a Thunder Fang attack.

"Good work!" Sparks praised, "That was pretty good pickup for a non electric type, and while you still won't be able to get more voltage than me, I'd say you can give any water type fighting you a nasty shock." He paused for a second before chuckling, "Both literally and figuratively."

Max wagged his tail at that and tried his new Thunder Fang attack a few more times until he was more confident with it. "Thanks!" he smiled at the Jolteon.

' _Well, score one for joining this team, I've already learnt a new move!'_ Max thought to himself, feeling strangely happy about that.

Esper soon woke up too, and peeked out of the tent, yawning.

"Hi Esper. You ready to go now?" Kyle asked him, petting the Espeon's head slightly.

"Yeah, sure." He nodded and stepped aside while Kyle set about dismantling the tent and packing everything away in his backpack again.

Soon enough he was done with that and pulled it on, walking onward to the path again.

Just a short while later they came across a female trainer that looked around 20, which meant she was probably fairly experienced.

"Hey, I challenge you to a battle!" She said as soon as she say Kyle and the rest of the team.

"I accept. Would a double battle be ok?" Kyle asked, to which the trainer nodded. "Good. Ava, Max, you're up."

Max nodded and took up his position between the two trainers, Ava walking up beside him.

"No substitutes?" The trainer asked, to which Kyle nodded.

"Ah, a double battle. Been a while since I took part in one of these." Ava said, smiling a little.

"It's my first time with it too." Max replied, as the other trainer was releasing her own Pokémon.

"Blastoise, Meganium, go!" She shouted, the two Pokémon emerging from their Pokeballs in a flash of white light.

"A water type and a grass type..." Kyle muttered, "bit of a mixed bag, but they should be able to handle it... Ava, try to keep Blastoise off Max! And Max, take out the Meganium as fast as you can!" He shouted.

Max nodded slightly, trying not to show his nervousness for his first battle with a Water type in play. Especially a Blastoise, as he remembered how pained Jenna had been from a single attack from one.

Ava rushed forward quickly, aiming to use her Crunch attack on one of the Blastoise's legs.

The other trainer had noticed the types that were in play and knew she'd have to capitalize on Blastoise's type. "Blastoise, use Water Gun on the Arcanine! Meganium, use Magical leaf on the Mightyena!" The trainer commanded.

Not waiting for the order, Max used Extreme Speed to get out of the way and strike the Meganium hard, again finishing it with Fire Fang to take advantage of his element, giving the Meganium a rather nasty burn thanks to the Grass type's natural weakness.

Kyle smiled slightly at that. Combination attacks were rare enough among trained Pokémon that few trainers expected them now. The fact that Max had seemingly taught himself one made him very glad the Arcanine was willing to fight for him. _'I'll have to think of a name for that so I can tell him to do it if I need to...'_

Ava, knowing that attempting to dodge a Magical Leaf attack was pointless, simply toughed through it as best she could and Crunched down on Blastoise, jumping back as Blastoise attempted to smash her with its other leg.

She got back up on Kyle's side of the field, ignoring the lingering stinging from the Magical Leaf attack, alongside Max who though uninjured, was panting slightly – Extreme Speed was an energy intensive move, more so when combined with another attack as he had just done.

Max growled at the other two Pokémon fiercely as he waited for the other trainer to take his turn.

"Meganium, use Petal Dance on the Mightyena! Blastoise, Water Pulse that Arcanine!"

The Meganium started using Petal Dance, which Ava continually tried to dodge while using her Snarl attack, mostly to lower the Meganium's attack and reduce the amount of damage she was taking when the cloud of petals caught up with her.

Max however, rather panicked at the prospect of that move, yelped and started running, though it did at least have the benefit of avoiding the water.

Seeing that he wasn't thinking clearly, Kyle decided to take charge, "Max, it'll be OK! Use your Heat Wave on the Meganium!"

Max stopped himself at his trainer's voice and sighed, steeling himself as he gave a little bark in confirmation and obeyed, slamming the Meganium with a powerful Heat Wave attack while it was concentrating on Petal Dance, which together with his Earlier Fire Fang and Ava's continuous Snarls, sent the Meganium flying back, badly injured.

The other Trainer recalled Meganium, then smiled slightly, "Blastoise, Rain Dance!"

The Blastoise did so, and suddenly the field they were in was drenched with rain.

Max whimpered at the feeing of the water falling on him.

"I so wish I knew Sunny Day right now..." He muttered. "Luckily, I do know something else that could work..."

He ran at the Blastoise and as it turned to bring its cannons to bear, he jumped onto it and then up into the air, into the temporary low clouds formed by Rain Dance. Then he used Overheat in all directions.

All of the water in the air evaporated instantly and started rising as steam, and Ava, the Blastoise and even Kyle and the other trainer winced slightly from the sudden increase in heat, Blastoise more than the others, while Max landed back down on the ground with surprising grace, panting heavily from expending much of his energy.

The Blastoise wasn't any better though, steam rising from its body from the sudden increase in heat.

"An inventive counter to Rain Dance. Unfortunately, one that causes more trouble than it's really worth. Hydro Pump the Arcanine. " She ordered.

Max give a strangled yelp as he was thrown back by the torrent of water.

"Ava, distract him!" Kyle shouted, running over to Max, "Are you OK?"

Max whimpered weakly and nuzzled him lightly, then struggled to his feet.

"Ava, get back!" He warned as he prepared a Flamethrower.

Ava nodded and jumped back away from the Blastoise she'd been biting just as the flamethrower engulfed it.

Max finally collapsed entirely at the same moment the Blastoise finally fell, exhausted from the combination of Ava's near continuous stream of attacks and the dehydration caused by Max's less effective but still powerful Flame attacks.

Kyle smiled slightly at that, "Good boy..." he murmured, petting Max gently as he returned him to his Pokeball.

The trainer walked up to him and held out a hand to shake, "That was an excellent battle. Your Arcanine fought impressively for going up against a powerful Water type."

Ava barked indignantly at that, seeing as she'd been the one fighting the Blastoise for most of the battle.

"And your Mightyena too, of course." She giggled, handing over his winnings, "Good luck with your future battles."

"Thanks!" Kyle said as he set off to the town again, adding a Revive to Max's Pokéball to wake him up.

* * *

"Yes, Lord Giovanni. I believe the Arcanine will be a viable subject for the project."

"You had better be right, my patience is beginning to run out for your little pet project. I will send another agent to collect the Pokémon, in the meantime return to the safehouse."

"Very well, Lord Giovanni." Agent Diana Mason said into her disposable communicator, before dropping it and crushing it underfoot.

"Good luck indeed..." The Team Rocket agent muttered to herself as she watched the trainer and his Pokémon go, "You'll need it. If you want to survive."

* * *

 _ **I'll be honest… I'm very disappointed in this chapter, both in how long it's taken for me to get it done to any acceptable level and how shitty some parts of it are. I promise things are going to get more interesting soon.**_


End file.
